By Blade Or Hilt
by Wardove706
Summary: "When fate throws a dagger at you, there are two ways to catch it; by the blade or by the hilt." Fate sure is throwing a lot of daggers. Second story in the Adventure-'verse. (I'll come up with a better summary later)
1. Every New Beginning

Chapter 1: Every New Beginning

"_Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." ~ Seneca_

* * *

**"_When fate throws a dagger at you, there are two ways to catch it;_**

**_By the blade, or by the hilt."_**

**_~Chinese Proverb_**

* * *

_All around, people were crying. Sobs of hysteria and denial, of grief and heart-felt agony. The once lively and bustling city echoed with them, a heart-rending counterpoint to the heavy scent of death and decay. The shells of once-proud skyscrapers hid the trembling citizens, afraid as they were to wander back out onto the streets where so many of their fellows had died. The corpses of those not fast enough to flee the shadow littered those streets, most partly consumed by the morbid green carpet of new life which broke through the asphalt._

_A lone figure walks down one of the narrower side-streets, placing their feet carefully for fear of stepping on one of those unfortunates. They pause at one, however. The figure of a woman, curled protectively even in death around the tiny body of her child. The figure kneels down to brush fingers gently across the child's face, now forever twisted in those last seconds of fear. One hand continues to stroke the child's forehead, as if to offer some form of comfort to the departed spirit, while the other hand clenches in a fist; unable to do anything in the wake of the disaster._

* * *

The dark-skinned teenager sighed as he ran a hand through his spiky mess of dirty-blonde hair. Sharp green eyes roamed around the small open area he was in. Surrounded by tall hedges that seemed to be shaped into walls, the clearing he'd woken up in was blanketed in a sheet of red and yellow flowers. Pokemon scurried underneath the flowers, the occasional flash of a skitty's pink ears or the yellow blur of a combee catching the young man's eye.

Exhaling heavily in frustration, he looked down to the cherry red pokeball in his hand, giving the creature inside his coldest glare. Large blue eyes stared back; refusing to blink first. The two stared at each other for several seconds before the 19-year-old huffed in annoyance, tucking the ball into one of his pockets and pulling his communicator out of his bag.

"Watcher, you there?" He asked, listening to the static coming from the speaker. He waited for a few seconds before trying again. "Watcher, I repeat, are you there?" Another pause. "This is Archangel, come in Watcher." Still nothing but static. Frowning, he switched channels. "Tower, this is Archangel, are you there? Come in Tower. I repeat; this is Archangel, come in Tower." All he was met with was static. Which could mean several things, the young man mused as he shut down the communicator and tucked it back into his bag. The main thing however was that he was, for now, completely on his own. He'd worry about where he was later. Pondering any other questions about his location would probably drive him quickly insane. _'Not that it's a long road.'_ He thought with a sardonic smile creeping across his face. One which he quickly wiped off his face as he heard voices. Far away, by the echoing quality, but still something to be wary of. He was not in a mental state to explain himself to strangers, much less _civilians_, right now.

Sighing wearily and squeezing his eyes shut for a moment to fight off an oncoming headache, Archangel picked an opening in the hedges and started walking.

* * *

It was almost an hour later when Archangel finally found a gap in the bushes that led out of the maze. What he saw however almost drove him back into the infuriating tangle of shrubberies.

"Big, isn't it?" A young female voice chirped from behind the teen, startling him. He glanced over to see a young girl, perhaps 13, wearing a pink t-shirt with black bows down the front and long brown hair done up in two pigtails. Almost unwillingly however, Archangel's eyes were drawn back to the gleaming glass, steel, and concrete that made up the so-called urban jungle.

"It that Luminose City?" He asked tenderly, half-hopeful and half-afraid to hear the girl's answer. Hazel eyes gave him a strange look, but the girl clasped her hands behind her back and rocked back on her heels.

"Of course it is. Are you a tourist or something?"

"Perhaps he's lost?" A new voice called from behind the pair. The girl turned to talk to the person who'd come up behind them, but Archangel didn't hear a word they were saying. Eyes staring at the gleaming metropolis, but seeing something else entirely. _The tang of smoke and decay clogging the air, warring with the cloying scent of the new growth of a deep jungle. Eddies of smoke hiding the terrible sights in the streets, if not their smell. The screams of the distraught and broken filled the air; a counterpoint to the deathly silence of the slumped forms sprawled across decaying grass and broken asphalt. _

"Hey!"

Archangel blinked, shaking his head and tearing his eyes away from the glowing tip of the tower peeking out from over the city skyline. He glanced over to see a new girl, probably only a few years younger than him. One hand was on her hip, and the other was waving at him, obviously having been trying to catch his attention. Archangel blinked and shook his head again, trying to dislodge the screams still echoing up from his memory.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" He asked, trying not to wince at the slight tremor in his voice. The two girls in front of him hadn't heard it though, and the new girl crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a mild glare.

"I was asking what your name was, and if you were lost." She said flatly. Archangel blinked and shook his head.

"I'm not lost. As for my name…" He hesitated. If he was where he thought he was then… "You can call me Ark."

"I'm Shauna!" The pink girl piped up from off to Ark's right.

"My name is Serena." The blonde with the ponytail said, still glaring at Archangel. The young man nodded, shaking Shauna's hand when she offered it and simply tilting his head in acknowledgement when Serena didn't offer hers. Slowly, his eyes drifted back to the Luminose skyline, and his throat clenched at the scent of the acrid smoke that still drifted up from his memory. Off to his side, Serena and Shauna shared a glance before Serena uncrossed her arms, striding towards the city with a backward wave. Shauna skipped along after her, calling a farewell over her shoulder to Archangel, who was still staring up at the skyline, lost in his own thoughts.

'_Why me?'_ He wondered as he tucked his hands into his pockets and slowly began to walk towards the city. _'There are so many others. Others who would know what to do. What not to do. So why me?'_ Fingers wrapped tightly around the small sphere in his pocket, and Archangel gritted his teeth. Whatever the reason, he knew now what had happened. And he knew, somehow, he was going to fix it. He _had_ to.

* * *

Darius Stellon sighed contentedly as he reclined in the slightly overstuffed armchair. He listened absently to the soft chatter of voices and cutlery, and the occasional pop of a log in the fireplace. He was wearing a dusty blue hoodie, and while having the hood up while being curled up in front of the fireplace was getting him a small amount of curiosity from the other patrons, it was less troublesome than if the hood were down and a certain special agent were to pass by and look through a window. Not for the first time, the blue-haired young man contemplated the pros and cons of dying his hair _brown._

'_Of all the places Looker had to get a case while I had mandatory vacation, why did it have to be here?'_ The 21-year-old groused mentally, ice-blue eyes locked onto the dancing flames in the fireplace. He'd almost have considered it to be some kind of conspiracy, except for the fact that he'd called headquarters and confirmed that Looker had a legitimate investigation. And that Darius was _not allowed_ to help. Which had been followed by the rather definitive 'click' of someone hanging up on him. Which, considering, was probably a hint.

"More coffee sir?" A young waitress asked, eyeing the empty ceramic mug that sat on the table next to Darius's chair. The young agent considered it briefly before shaking his head.

"No more, thanks. At this rate I'll twitching uncontrollably before noon." He offered the young lady a smile and she smiled back with a warm flutter that Darius ignored, before she trotted off to spread the coffee elsewhere. Sighing, Darius pried himself up from the chair, wincing slightly at the rushing throb in his head when he rose to his feet. _'Looker was right.'_ He mused as he collected his backpack and left the mug at the counter along with a tip. _'I did need a vacation. Not that I'll ever tell _him_ that.'_ It had been over three years since the chaos in Hoenn had been sorted out. Mostly, at least. There were still a handful of criminals that had managed to escape, including at least one of the commanders of Team Magma. Three years since Darius had signed the papers that made him an agent of the International Secret Police. Admittedly, being an agent was pretty entertaining. Not always _fun_, per se, but rarely boring. Although, that was probably because Looker and Johnny usually handled the majority of the paperwork while Darius ran down any fieldwork.

Darius froze in his tracks as he felt a pulse of energy sweep through the land, carrying with it the eye-watering bite of chemical smoke. The pulse was so powerful it drove him to his knees, his throat clenching painfully as he fought to keep himself from being overwhelmed by the sense of wrong-not-okay-need-to-fix-_painpainpain_. And then, just as abruptly, the pressure was gone, and Darius was left kneeling on the sidewalk, head clutched in his hands as bystanders gave him sidelong glances. A scaled green presence wrapped itself around his shuddering mind as Darius tried to re-center himself.

"Just what I needed." He growled out, rising to his feet once more and pressing a hand to his now throbbing head. The second he started actually enjoying his mandatory vacation, it ended. Maybe he could find a way to avoid whatever had let off that pulse?

Yeah, because Darius Stellon was that lucky.

* * *

**AN: So you know when stuff happens, and you just wanna scream and throw your computer into a brick wall? But you really can't because you're in public and that would be awkward? Yeah. I'll apologize if any lines seem like they don't fit too well, I spent half-an-hour editing this for posting, and when I clicked 'save', chrome showed me a helpful picture of an 8-bit dinosaur and informed me I was no longer connected to the internet. Which, honestly was my fault for not checking my connection status before clicking that button, but what's done is done. **

**This, obviously, is the 'sequel's sequel' I mentioned in IWTIAATH. I don't think you have to have read that first to enjoy this story, but it might help you understand Darius and a few other characters. Archangel is completely new though. By the way, I don't own Pokemon, but I do own Darius and Ark. **

**I'll warn you now, just like my last story, there's going to be very little going on in the way of battling. I'm more of a plot writer than a fight-scene writer. As this story is still being written however, if I get enough requests for battles, then I can try to put some in. **

**Now, I think that's all, so I'll post this now and then chapter 2 will probably be up in a few days.**

**EDIT: Almost forgot to mention that the quotes I use throughout this story (mainly the title and the chapter titles) do not belong to me. They have already been attributed to whoever said them. Or at least as close as I can find it. **


	2. People Are Strange

Chapter 2: People Are Strange

"_People are strange when you're a stranger." ~ People Are Strange, Echo and the Bunnymen_

* * *

**_"When fate throws a dagger at you, there are two ways to catch it;_**

**_By the blade, or by the hilt."_**

**_~ Chinese Proverb_**

* * *

**AN: Hey there! I wasn't planning on uploading this until I had another chapter fully written out, but I've been listening to the How To Train Your Dragon Soundtrack, primarily Forbidden Friendship, and adding that to the fact that I'm going to Anime Boston with all my friends this weekend puts yours truly in a very good mood! Thusly, you get chapter two a little early :)**

**EDIT: Uh, helps if I actually _post_ the chapter... Oops ^^))**

* * *

Archangel sighed heavily as he pressed a chilly jug of water against his temple. Sure, he really needed the money, and picking up the chatter from the customers was more productive than just sitting around, but _still_. For him, he'd gone from the abandoned field of battle filled with the cloying stench of chemicals and burnt flesh… to a coffee shop. It was almost more traumatizing than the bodies had been… _'Or maybe I was in shock earlier and it's just sinking in now.'_ He mused as he began making rounds with the jug of ice water. Not a lot of customers were low on water yet, but it looked like quite a few needed more coffee. Returning to the kitchens, Archangel set down the jug of water and snatched one of the coffee pots off the burner, returning to the seating area to re-fill ceramic mugs.

'_I still don't understand why I was chosen.'_ Archangel mused as he poured coffee into the mug of a scowling man in a suit. It was the same question that had been plaguing him for almost a whole week now. No matter how he looked at it, there was no reason for him to be chosen. He had next to no training, and knew nothing of what was about to happen or how to stop it, which almost guaranteed that it was going to happen.

Archangel forcibly turned his thoughts aside as he realized the empty ceramic cup he'd been about to pour coffee into was still clutched by the young man in the chair. He was curled up, arms folded at his sides with the mug almost under his chin. His legs were pressed against his forearms, and glazed blue eyes stared at the cinnamon brown wall unseeingly.

"Would you like some more coffee?" Archangel asked him, holding the pot down so it crossed the patron's thousand-mile gaze. Slowly, the young man's gaze slid back into focus, and he looked up at Archangel in surprise.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I was asking if you'd like more coffee. You look like you need it." Archangel informed him frankly. The young man, whom Archangel belatedly realized had the most impressive shade of blue hair the agent had ever seen, glanced down at the mug in his hands. He seemed surprised that it was empty, and held it up so Archangel could add more coffee to the small dregs that remained from the last cup.

"I don't suppose you could tell me about the legends of the Kalos region?" The blue-haired man asked, smiling in a way that told Archangel he wasn't actually looking for a proper answer. The agent shrugged.

"I'm not local, so I don't know much. There's a library in this city somewhere though, I think it's near the art museum. You looking for anything specific?" The man in the chair shook his head, frowning.

"How about recent incidents? Anything suspicious or out of the ordinary lately? Say, around a week ago or so?" Archangel frowned at that. He'd arrived a week ago, and those first few days he'd been more focused on what was happening in his immediate vicinity, nevermind what was happening in the rest of the region.

"Not that I can think of." Archangel informed him. "Why the varied questions? Old legends and recent happenings?" The young man blinked in surprise, almost as if he hadn't expected something to think it strange.

"Ah, I need to write a research report. Old legends of other regions, stuff like that. And who's not interested in what's happening in the here and now?" He quirked an uneasy smile at Archangel and quickly looked down to his coffee, frowning. Hiding his own frown, Archangel returned to the kitchens with the pot of coffee, placing it back on the burner to keep it warm and gathering a few plates with sandwiches on them, carrying them out to their respective tables. By the time he realized that his own arrival could have been referred to as some kind of 'incident', the blue-haired stranger was already gone.

* * *

Archangel sighed as he stared down at the Pokeball in his hand. Blue eyes refused to meet his own, their owner instead staring avidly at anything that wasn't Archangel. The young agent in question sighed in annoyance and glared briefly at the Fletching that had been defying his admittedly pathetic attempts to catch it.

"Why aren't you using that Pokemon there?" A young but oddly gruff voice asked, almost startling Ark into jumping. Almost. Instead, he quickly closed his fingers around the ball and turned to look at the pale man in the white coat standing behind him.

"It's not my Pokemon to use." He said. It was a better answer than _'It sticks its tongue out at me whenever I try to release it and just stays inside the Pokeball.'_ The man stared at him for a while before snapping his fingers and reaching into his coat pocket, withdrawing a white-and-red pokeball.

"Try this pokemon. I was going to give him to the daughter of some old friends, but he wouldn't listen to her, so she ended up having to give him back to me. Perhaps you'll have better luck?" At Ark's hesitation, the man smiled. "At the very least, he can help you catch that Fletchling." Mentally sighing, Ark nodded and accepted the Pokeball from the stranger.

"I'm Ark." Archangel introduced himself, still feeling somewhat uncomfortable accepting a pokemon from a stranger.

"My name is Augustine, but most people know me better as Professor Sycamore." The pale man introduced, scratching at his whiskery beard and offering Ark a hand. Introductions out of the way, Ark turned back to the Fletchling he'd been trying to catch to find that the little bird had decided to leave. Shrugging, the young man looked down at the two pokeballs in his hand, watching as the green pokemon waved happily at the red one, which cocked its head before looking up at Ark. The young man shrugged again and tucked one ball into his pocket, releasing the pokemon Sycamore had handed him. Dark red scales glimmered as the pokemon stretched, the flame on his tail flaring even higher than the dull horn protruding from the back of his head. Narrow blue eyes met Ark's own green eyes in challenge. Archangel however refused to blink. He'd had longer staring contests with the menace in his pocket afterall. Out of the corner of his eye, Ark saw Sycamore looking between boy and pokemon with a strange glint in his eyes.

It was the pokemon who moved first, snorting and spitting a small fireball in Ark's direction before offering what was obviously a predator's smirk. Archangel offered his own hunter's smirk, just for a second, and finally the pokemon broke eye contact to glance back at Sycamore, spitting another fireball in his direction. Sycamore however seemed pleased, practically beaming as he walked up to stand beside Ark.

"Seems he likes you." The older man commented as they both watched the pokemon startle a small Flabebe out of the flowers, snapping at it lazily as the tiny fairy darted away. "That's Charmeleon. He used to be a Charmander, but he evolved before I could find a trainer for him. And I can't give him to any of the new trainers just starting out either, he'd never listen to them. But he seems to like you."

"I don't know about liking me." Archangel replied, watching Charmeleon slowly stalk across the pathway to the flowerpatch Flabebe had fled to.

"He didn't set you on fire, which is better than can be said for most trainers who tried to work with him." Ark blinked at the man, looking for a sign that the man was joking, but grey eyes were completely serious, even if the man was smiling slightly. "I think it'd be best if you took Charmeleon with you." The man said abruptly, startling both Ark and Charmeleon, who'd been about to pounce once more on the harried fairy in the bush. "I primarily work in a lab all day, and you two are already getting along quite well. I think it would be good for you. Unless you disagree?" Sycamore's eyes were on Archangel, who frowned at the man before glancing at Charmeleon. Blue eyes had narrowed further in silent challenge, and Archangel nodded.

"Thanau." Ark declared, sharp smile softening slightly. "It seems like it fits." Professor Sycamore smiled and nodded, reaching into the large bag that hung by his side once more.

"You seem like a reliable young man, and I've got an extra one of these that I need to get off my hands, so why don't you take this with you?" Archangel, who had gone back to watching Thanau stalking through the flowers, turned back to see Sycamore offering him a strange red device. Curiously, he took it from the older man, noting the gap between the two halves. A gentle tug had the two pieces sliding apart to reveal a screen, which lit automatically, displaying the word 'Unregistered' in large red letters.

"It's a Pokedex." Sycamore explained. "Just press your thumb onto the screen and it'll activate." Archangel blinked at the man for a second before looking down at the device, the Pokedex, in his hands. He'd heard about them sure, but he'd never _had_ one before.

"Are you sure it's alright to give this to someone you've only just met sir?"

In response, Sycamore just shrugged, reaching into his bag again and withdrawing another Pokeball.

"I believe Pokemon are good judges of character, and Thanau there seems to judge you acceptable for him. And since I'm giving you a Kalos Pokedex, I ought to give you a Kalos starter as well, hmm? Unless you'd find it troublesome? I only have Froakie left." Archangel tilted his head, frowning slightly, but nodded, reaching his hand out to accept the second Pokeball.

"I'll admit I feel slightly more wary about this whole situation than you do apparently, but taking care of another Pokemon wouldn't be troublesome at all." With a flick of his wrist, Archangel released the new pokemon, watching as the small frog-like creature hopped over to Thanau, who growled lowly. The charmeleon shot a few embers into the space between them, and Froakie did the same with a few bubbles. One of the embers was caught in a bubble, and they floated together as one until the bubble popped and the flame died. Froakie clapped in amusement while Thanau just rolled his eyes, going back to his hunt. Ark couldn't help but chuckle at the two.

"I'll call him Broga." He declared, watching the little frog trail after Thanau and startling the combee he'd been sneaking up on.

"Well then Ark, I must be getting back now." Sycamore declared. "If you have any questions, feel free to stop by my lab in Luminose anytime." And with a backward wave, the strange professor turned and strolled back in the direction of the large city, leaving a bemused Archangel in his wake.

"Well that was random." Was all the teen could say.

* * *

**AN: Okay, so maybe it wasn't as good as it good have been. Sycamore just kinda showed up and started being all friendly, and I was like, well okay then. I think I've mentioned it before but I really have no control over what the characters in my head are doing. Not that that's a bad thing... (At least I don't _think_ it is) Anyway, I definitely won't have the next chapter up before next week, but I'll keep writing while I'm on the road, have no fears! JLC Live, Anime Boston, and NH Home Show here I come!**

**PS- in case you're wondering, I hate leaving my Pokemon with no nicknames, so Archangel nicknames his Pokemon too. If you want to know what their names mean, just ask and I'll be happy to share :)**

**/AN**


	3. Who Are You

Chapter 3: Who Are You

"_Tell me who are you? 'Cause I really wanna know." ~ Who Are You, The Who_

* * *

**_"When fate throws a dagger at you, there are two ways to catch it;_**

**_By the blade, or by the hilt."_**

**_~ Chinese Proverb_**

* * *

**AN: Okay, so I know I said I'd probably get this to you guys on Monday, and I haven't written anything else this weekend (chapter 6 just keeps getting longer and longer and I've given up trying to keep track of what my characters are doing). BUT! But-but-but! I was at Anime Boston on Saturday... and I was just sitting in one of the hallways, trying to explain to my friends why I was so happy about getting a beautiful drawing of a certain angel in a trenchcoat... AND THEN SOMEONE COSPLAYING CASTIEL WALKED BY! Middle of my sentence, I bolted to my feet and went after him. Got a picture; the guy had the most perfect confused look on his face. And then I HUGGED HIM! I couldn't help it. I 'sqwee'd. A lot. So thank Castiel for the earliness of this chapter ;)**

* * *

_Four Days Later_

Darius frowned as he watched the dark-skinned waiter watching Lysandre. The young man seemed to be trying to avoid going near the president of Lysandre Labs, but the man kept singling him out, asking for coffee and water only when he was in the area.

/The child is directing quite a bit of anger at that man./ Rayquaza observed from the back of Darius's mind. The young man simply 'hmm'ed into his ump-teenth cup of coffee.

/That's not just anger though, is it?/ He asked the dragon, trying to identify the dark swirls buffeting between the two subjects of his attention. /He's scared of Lysandre too./

/Very good./ The dragon said with a smidgen of amusement.

/Either way, something about those two is bugging me. Something more than just their interactions./ Darius complained, settling his cup on the small table beside his chair. He continued to watch as Lysandre once again caught the young waiter with a wave.

"Are you a pokemon trainer young man?" Lysandre asked abruptly, startling the boy into almost spilling the coffee in his hands. Darius leaned forward slightly to hear better; this was the first time the man had actually spoken to the boy. The younger of the pair's fear flared momentarily before settling into what felt like wariness and calculation. The hand not holding the coffee pot drifted down to the three pokeballs, two red-and-white and one pure red, that were clipped to his belt.

"I suppose I am." He said, his voice impressively level considering the tension Darius could feel radiating off his slim frame.

"It is plain to see in the way you move. And yet you work at such a mundane job?" Lysandre queried, leaning forward towards the young man, who took a step back. "I say this because I have noticed how uncomfortable you seem in this place. You don't feel like you are _wasting_ your precious youth doing nothing in this dead-end career? You don't feel like you are wasting your talents as a trainer?"

As the man continued to speak, the young man's face remained impassive, but Darius could feel, underneath the wariness, a rising sense of revulsion, which only grew stronger the more words came out of Lysandre's mouth. It got to the point that Darius was beginning to feel a little impressed with how well-hidden the boy's emotions were. But enough was enough.

/Something else is going on here./ Darius grumbled to the dragon sitting in his hindbrain, even as he surreptitiously rose from his seat and approached the pair. Lysandre was sitting with his elbows on his knees, fingers laced together as he watched the waiter for any sign of reaction. The boy in question was leaning slightly back, Darius quickly making note of his stance, which meant he could bolt at a moment's notice. Lysandre had been right when he said the kid moved like a professional.

"Lots of people have pokemon with them without actually becoming actual trainers." Darius commented, standing off to the side so he could easily see the faces of both his targets. Lysandre's faint amusement shifted slightly, becoming somewhat brittle as annoyance swirled beneath his façade. The waiter on the other hand had lost almost all of his fear; while he was still wary of both Lysandre and Darius, he also echoed with curiosity. Mainly aimed at Darius. Interesting.

"You refer to yourself, perhaps?" Lysandre asked drily. Darius shrugged, pinning a smile on his face, despite his urge to glare and growl at the man.

"In fact, I do. I work together with my pokemon, and we travel, and we do quite a few other things that trainers would do. But I avoid battling people, and I mainly travel because I have a regular job which requires it." If you could call working as an agent for the International Police a regular job. Something about his words must have rung with whatever Lysandre was trying to get at, because the brittle annoyance faded into anticipation. Darius tried not to shiver at the predatory swirl that cloaked the man.

"Ah, but I see you take great pride in that role." Lysandre observed, eyes twinkling dangerously. "Surely you do not wish for that career to end? Don't you wish you could stay like that? Doing what you take pride in, forever as young and vibrant as you are now?"

Darius remembered finding Cyrus, trapped in the Torn Dimension by Giratina, where Space and Time were unstable at best. For Darius, months had passed since the Ruler of Distortion had pulled his uncle into the realm in fury. Cyrus looked as if not a day had passed. Until Darius saw his eyes. Haunted and empty in a way that made his past scowl look like a cheerful grin. Minutes and seconds diluted into hours and days by Giratina's desire to see Cyrus suffer for the threat to his realm and for the damage caused by the Red Chain's manipulations. Trapped in isolation for untold years, perhaps even centuries. For neither Cyrus nor Giratina wished to tell of what warped form of time had carried on.

Something of Darius's thoughts must have shown on his face, because he felt a pulse of fresh fear coming from the dark-skinned youth, directed at Darius himself, and Lysandre was frowning, brittle annoyance almost fully replacing his earlier amusement.

"Forever is a very long time." Darius muttered darkly, staring at Lysandre in challenge as the waiter fidgeted nervously, obviously wishing to leave but not wanting to draw attention to himself. Finally however, Lysandre sighed in acquiescence and rose to his feet, both younger men backing off a step as Lysandre collected his bag and nodded.

"It seems your minds will not be swayed." He stated before turning and walking to the exit. Darius watched his retreating back until the door closed behind him and he strode down the sidewalk, out of sight of the large windows. Once he was well and truly gone, Darius turned to the waiter, whose fear had settled into nervousness. And he was still as wary as a cornered animal.

"You were afraid of him." Darius stated immediately. "Why?"

"You obviously didn't like him either." The boy shot back defensively. Which didn't answer Darius's question.

/The child has a point./ Rayquaza spoke up once more, having been silent through the entire confrontation. Darius tried not to roll his eyes in annoyance.

"You have a name?" He asked instead, deciding not to pursue the boy's reluctance to discuss his reasoning. Again, a pulse in that ever-present wariness, as well as a hesitation before he replied.

"Some people call me Ark." He said, his tone challenging, despite the almost minuscule flair of his fear. Daring him to challenge the statement, and yet afraid the challenge will be accepted. Which implied a lie.

/Bet you I could count the number of people who call him that on one hand, and it's not even close to his actual name./ Darius muttered mentally to the amused dragon. /I suppose two can play at that game./

"Some people call me Titan." Darius informed the boy with a smirk that bordered on predatory.

/Careful hatchling, your supervising officer would not be pleased if he heard you using that name when on vacation./ Rayquaza teased while Darius scowled at the dragon's favourite nickname.

"Something tells me that's not your real name." Ark muttered, frowning as his wariness increased almost two-fold, and a flicker of fear reappeared. Cautiously, he took a step back from Darius, settling once more into the stance that would allow him the quickest escape. Which would probably include splashing the almost-forgotten pot of hot coffee in his hand at Darius. Noting his reaction, Darius softened his smirk to something a little less predatory.

"I could say the same of you." He informed the nervous boy. "And now you're afraid of me. You're very suspicious and twitchy for a simple waiter."

"What makes you think I'm afraid of you?" Ark demanded, taking a step away from Darius, who sighed. He could feel suspicion rising in the other patrons, and he'd already drawn negative attention by introducing himself as Titan.

"Listen, I'm going to leave now. We keep this conversation going much longer and the other customers are going to call the restaurant manager and the cops because it looks like I'm harassing and or threatening you. Have a good day Ark." And Darius turned and walked out of the café before Ark could recover enough to call him back.

* * *

Archangel sighed as he stared at his useless communicator. There was so much going on, but there was no way he could inform anyone. Without Watcher's backup and Tower's data, everyone in Kalos had potential to be a suspect. Momentarily pushing the unsettling thought from his head, he plucked the three pokeballs off his belt, releasing Thanau and Broga. Amersu stayed in her pokeball though, stubborn as usual. Archangel didn't even try to force her out, instead just clipping the ball back to his belt. He'd been unsure on how to react to Lysandre approaching him. Perhaps to a bystander who didn't know what the man was planning to do, the conversation would have seemed innocent enough, but for Archangel, he could still feel his skin crawling. And speaking of bystanders…

"What kind of a name is Titan?" He asked Thanau, who was in the process of showing Broga how to sneak up on a hapless Spewpa cowering in the bushes. Broga glanced over at the sound of his voice, but Thanau growled, bringing the little frog's attention back to their impromptu training. Ark sighed, seating himself down among the leaf litter to watch as Thanau crept forward a few feet, waving his tail at Broga to indicate the other pokemon should try. A twig snapped under one of the froakie's pads however and the charmeleon growled, stalking off in another direction and trying again.

Archangel let his thoughts wander as the two pokemon continued to prowl around the perimeter of the clearing. Titan had looked like a good candidate for a high-ranking member of Team Flare. Except for the fact that he'd stepped in to argue with Lysandre. Unless it was some kind of ploy? But something was still bothering Archangel. Something about that blue hair…

_The young man, whom Archangel belatedly realized had the most impressive shade of blue hair the agent had ever seen, glanced down at the mug in his hands. He seemed surprised that it was empty, and held it up so Archangel could add more coffee to the small dregs that remained from the last cup. _

Of course; he'd met Titan a week after his little trip. Ark vaguely remembered the suspicious young man asking about legends in the Kalos region. Hadn't he said it was for a report of some kind? What if he'd been telling the truth? A report for Team Flare, on the pokemon they planned to manipulate? But then why the interest in recent events? Perhaps he'd been checking up on how much attention Team Flare had drawn to themselves already? But he'd asked about a week previous specifically, and Archangel knew Team Flare had been quiet during the time around his arrival. Unless they'd actually done something critical to the plan and Titan was making sure no-one had heard about it.

The teen frowned as he watched Thanau pin Broga down, having been showing the smaller pokemon how to free himself from larger opponents. Something about that train of thought still wasn't sitting right in Archangel's subconscious. Absently, he pulled Amersu's pokeball off his belt once more, holding it up so he could see the pokemon within. Amersu was pointedly watching Thanau and Broga, but Archangel didn't mind. He was getting used to being ignored by her.

"I don't suppose you know what Titan's agenda is." He groused to the exasperating pokemon. Light blue eyes darted up to meet green however at the mention of the stranger's name, and Amersu smiled, tucking tiny green hands over her mouth as she giggled silently inside the red sphere.

"You think Titan's funny?" Archangel asked, startled that he'd actually gotten a reaction out of her. Amersu continued to watch Ark, lowering her hands to reveal her smile once more. However, she made no attempt to enlighten him further. Not that she could, really, inside the Pokeball as she was. Archangel sighed, breaking their mini staring contest to watch a Fletchling hopping about in the higher branches of a nearby tree. Amersu had no reason to like Team Flare, as much misery and pain as they'd caused her. Which meant if Titan was one of them, she probably wouldn't be giggling at the mention of his name. But that led back to his original question; if Titan wasn't a title for a sub-leader of Team Flare, then what kind of a name was it? Unless…

The first time they'd met, Titan had been asking about suspicious activity and old legends. Which was exactly what Archangel had done previously. As Archangel had pointed out, he didn't like Lysandre, though that one was harder to explain since there was currently nothing connecting the man to Team Flare. And how he'd introduced himself afterwards…

"_Some people call me Ark."_

"_Some people call me Titan." _

Ark wasn't exactly an average name, though it was less strange than Archangel. And the way the other had said 'Titan', it didn't sound like a nickname, more like…

"It's a codename." Archangel voiced out loud, glancing back down to Amersu to see what she thought of his conclusion. Her slight giggle was answer enough. Groaning, Archangel pressed his free hand to his forehead. Now the question was, who did Titan work for? And how much did he know?

* * *

**AN: Hey all. Teehee, I wonder how many of you have figured out where Ark came from yet? And just what Pokemon Amersu is. Heh, her name is a hint, if you've managed to figure out my little naming conventions ;) Anyway, it seems obvious to me, but maybe that's just because I'm the one writing it. Anyway, Spring Break is over, so I won't have as much time to write (that and I've already cut deeply into my backlog of chapters... oops). Don't worry though, I'll make sure I never give you another delay like before. Ever. Again. **

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave a review! Please and thank you! **


	4. Bad Moon

Chapter 4: Bad Moon Rising

_"I see the bad moon a-rising; I see trouble on the way." ~Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bad Moon Rising_

* * *

**_"When fate throws a dagger at you, there are two ways to catch it;_**

**_By the blade, or by the hilt."_**

**_~ Chinese Proverb_**

* * *

**AN: Boo! Mer... I can't think of anything fun or witty to say... digital garlic bread to all readers. Toasted digi-garlic bread to reviews. Lols- my Swedish heritage will _feed you! _**

**In other news, this chapter (and most of those up to chapter 11 at least), have been brought to you by pretty much every song that has ever come out of Dean Winchester's radio~**

**Um, non-claimers? Darius and Ark, all mine~ **

* * *

Darius brought his newly purchased bicycle to a stop at the exit to the cave, smiling as he took a deep breath of salt-touched air. It reminded him of Sunnyshore city, where he and Saturn had lived before their uncle had brought them into Team Galactic. The smell also reminded him of his friends back in the Hoenn region. May being the first who came to mind, followed by Tyler and Edward Stone, and even to an extent Steven. Saving the world from the apocalypse had a tendency to bring people together after all. Shaking his head to dislodge his memories, Darius turned the bicycle towards the rocky path that led down the cliff face, just barely restraining the urge to whoop in exhilaration as the salty wind nipped at his face. As he neared the bottom of the trail, he felt Rayquaza's mind shifting slightly, curiosity echoing through their link.

/What are doing hatchling?/ The dragon asked in mild confusion. /Looker will not be happy to see you hunting leads on his case./

"Which is why I'm only here as a tourist." Darius said out loud, grinning at the taste of salt on his tongue. "Besides, I have next to no leads right now; the only way for me to find info is to trip over it." Darius got a distinct feeling of amusement from the dragon, and he could imagine the enormous head shaking ruefully before the presence retreated once more, allowing Darius to focus once more on the path his bike sped along. Which turned out to be a very good thing, considering the pokemon that had unexpectedly stepped out from the bushes to the side of the track. Gritting his teeth, Darius squeezed both brakes and twisted the bike so he skidded sideways, stopping just a few feet short of the white-furred pokemon, which hadn't so much as flinched. Curiously, Darius noted it was an Absol. Which may or may not have meant anything, really; he may have been on the coast, but there _was_ a mountain just behind him.

Slowly, the Absol sauntered towards Darius, who perched upon his bike silently, curious to see the Pokemon's intentions. Humans projected as easily as they breathed, but pokemon, especially wild ones, were much harder for Darius to get a read on. Gently, the disaster pokemon sniffed Darius's coat a few times, before giving his hair a sniff and nipping at a few of the wayward blue strands before stepping back, tilting its head curiously. Then, almost as abruptly as it had appeared, the Absol was leaping down the rocky ledge to Darius's right, down the mountain.

Darius watched the lithe body until he could no longer see it before shaking his head and turning his bicycle once more. He was definitely onto something; whether or not that was a good thing was still to be seen.

* * *

Archangel sighed, letting his head hang over the back of the sofa he'd practically fallen on once he'd returned to the hotel he'd been staying at. He'd spent the past week trying to track down where Titan had gone after their confrontation in the coffee shop, but the blue-haired young man had seemingly vanished. If he _was_ an agent for some investigative agency, Ark knew it was only a matter of time before he and Titan crossed paths once more, hunting for Team Flare. Taking a breath and lifting his head once more, Archangel reached into his bag, withdrawing the datapad, switching it on and logging in, thankful that at least the data banks were working, even if he still couldn't get in touch with Watcher or Tower.

Archangel stared at the keyboard for a few minutes after that. The problem with the open databanks was they were weak on details for open cases. Which was exactly what the investigation into Team Flare was, if it had even been started yet. He'd already researched what little data was available on Team Flare, and Lysandre, and the legends of the Kalos region. What else was there to research? What could give him a lead? Suddenly, Archangel's thoughts came to a stop. Of course!

Quickly he typed 'Titan' into the database, frowning at old articles of a criminal gang in some other faraway region and studies on an alien moon. He adjusted the search to 'Agent Titan' and ran the scan again. He was about to sigh in defeat at the lack of data when he noticed the discrepancy. There weren't nearly as many mentions in the database on Agent Titan as there would usually be for an active agent, but those that were there referred to him in junction with an agent named Looker. Which meant Looker was probably Titan's commanding officer like Watcher was for Archangel. A quick search on Looker however yielded him nothing more than a list of sealed cases attributed to the man. Nothing on what he was working on, which meant Archangel didn't have the clearance to research it. Finally giving up, Archangel powered down the datapad and tucked it back into his bag, his mind running full throttle. The response, while containing no actual data, held quite a few answers. At the very least, Titan worked underneath a high-level agent, meaning he was probably a rather high level himself.

Growling under his breath, Ark dropped his head into his hands, pressing the heels of his palms against his temples. If only he could contact Tower, or even Watcher. It was Tower's job to get info out to Archangel and Watcher, and Watcher was his senior agent. Archangel wasn't ready as either a person or an agent to work such a massive case on his own yet. This was supposed to have been his first job. Cleaning up fallout, not trying to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Archangel's line of thought was interrupted by the sound of two other hotel-goers descending into the lobby where the young agent had made himself comfy. Ark listened to their voices echoing down the hallway for a minute before smirking at what sounded like an old argument between the two.

"…No such thing as coincidences with him." The first voice growled, sounding definitively annoyed.

"Benefit of the doubt then. He took vacation all the way out here; that looks like he was trying to get away from work to me." A second man's voice answered, younger and full of amusement.

"All part of his schemes." The first voice retorted. Archangel craned his neck to see as the two entered the lobby area. The first man had black hair which was peppered with grey, and he positively _stalked_ out of the stairwell, tan long coat billowing out behind him like a cape. Behind him a middle-aged man in a light brown suit bounced along, grin firmly in place under his short-cropped sandy blonde hair.

"Arceus help the next red-haired loony I lay eyes on." Long-Coat growled, making his was quickly across the lobby.

"What about blue-haired loonies sir?" Sandy-Hair asked with a smirk, hopping slightly so he could walk next to Long-Coat.

"Arceus help my _sanity_. I do _not_ need that kind of headache right now." And before Archangel could do more than jump off the sofa he'd been occupying, the two were out the door and gone. He quickly darted out the door after them, but they were already lost in the afternoon rush.

* * *

Darius rubbed at his sore bottom, positive he wasn't going to be able to sit right for the rest of the week. He'd thought it was such cool idea at the time, to have a ryhorn carry passengers across the dangerously rocky path.

"After this, I'm _flying_ back to town." Darius grumbled under his breath as he approached the mouth of Glitter Cave. He paused inside the mouth of the cave to allow his eyes to adjust to the darkness, and he couldn't help but smile at the soft green and blue light emanating from the crystals that jutted out of the walls. It was quite beautiful, in an odd unearthly way. Darius studied the crystals for a few minutes before focusing his mind onto the main reason he'd come all the way out to the cave in the first place. People didn't _just_ go missing afterall.

* * *

Serena sighed in relief as she watched another member of Team Flare withdraw his wounded pokemon from battle and flee into the darkness behind her. Whether or not they were able to find the exit in the dark, the girl didn't particularly care. She'd lost all patience hours ago when she'd gotten lost in the twists and dead-ends in the dark cave. The members of Team Flare who ran away were out of her way, and she was one step closer to finding the missing, _kidnapped_, researcher. Although, what Team Flare wanted with a bunch of fossils when they were apparently obsessed with 'style', the blonde-haired girl didn't have a clue.

"You ready to go Fennekin?" Serena asked the little fox pokemon by her feet. Fennekin yipped in agreement and trotted forward, large sensitive ears flicking about in search of threats. Serena was positive they were almost to the end of the cave when Fennekin froze, one paw still reached forward, ears angled sharply forward. Before Serena could ask her pokemon what was ahead, she heard the growling. A few seconds later, she saw the source of the growl.

The pokemon resembled a wolf, and even crouched in a threatening pose the dark fur running down its back came up to Serena's elbows. Shorter grey fur covered the lower half of the pokemon's body, and sharp white teeth glinted underneath keen red eyes. Fennekin growled softly, but Serena could see the little fox shaking; this pokemon was not one they would be able to defeat. But it was too late to run, the pokemon was still stalking towards them, ever so slowly.

Abruptly, Fennekin panicked and spat a mouthful of embers at the dark muzzle. One of the wolf's ears twitched and he snorted to get the smoke out of his nose, but he didn't so much as flinch from the attack. His growling grew louder, and Serena quickly darted forward, scooping up Fennekin in her arms and backing away, almost loosing her balance on the uneven ground.

"Kuraishi?" A voice called from within the darkness, and Serena tore her eyes away from the shadowed demon before her to the man who'd almost literally melted out of the darkness. Which seemed almost impossible considering the intense blue hair should have stuck out like a sore thumb.

"I thought you guys all had red hair." Serena growled before she could catch herself. The blue-haired man's eyes narrowed and she squeaked, clutching Fennekin closer to her chest in fright. It took her a second to realize that it wasn't an action of anger however, but of confusion. The man didn't have any idea what she was talking about.

"Is that a friend of yours?" A new man's voice called from the darkness behind the blue-haired man. Glancing over his shoulder, Serena saw a stringy, slightly balding man in a while lab coat coming out of the darkness, holding one of the glowing crystals in one hand as he squinted at the clipboard in his other hand.

"This is a public cave professor; she's probably just here to see the crystals. Kuraishi, that's enough." At the young man's command, the hound ceased growling, lifting his head and settling into a more casual stance.

"Oh yes, the crystals are quite interesting, truly." The professor mumbled, nodding slightly without even taking his eyes off the clipboard. And he was still walking forward, which meant he almost tripped over the dark-furred wolf standing in front of him.

"Are you the professor from the Fossil Institute?" Serena asked, loosening her grip on Fennekin slightly. She didn't want to crush her poor pokemon afterall. "The one that was missing? That everyone thought was kidnapped by Team Flare?"

"Why would Team Flare be after a fossil researcher?" The blue haired man asked, tilting his head to the side like a bird. The professor in question glanced up to look between the two for a moment before shrugging and going back to his clipboard.

"I don't know, why was this cave practically _crawling_ with them earlier until I chased them out?" The girl retorted. She was beginning to doubt that the stranger was with the criminal organization, or even that the professor had been kidnapped in the first place. Her suspicions were further strengthened when the young man's eyes went almost comically wide and he looked down to his pokemon.

"For once, we actually missed something!" He said in what couldn't be anything but surprise. Then he smirked. "I knew my luck sucked enough that my first tourist destination would have Team Flare as a feature. Even if I _did_ miss the action."

"You sound happy about running into them, but if your luck was that bad, wouldn't you be having a hard time finding them?" Serena asked, finally loosening her grip on Fennekin enough that the little fox could wriggle out of her arms and jump up on her shoulder. In response to her question however the blue-haired man just shrugged and turned his attention back to the professor.

"Sir, if you've been gone so long that people are assuming you've been kidnapped, I think it's high time we got you back to town." He then glanced over at Serena. "You want a lift back?" He asked even as he plucked two Pokeballs off his belt, recalling Kuraishi into one and releasing a tall humanoid green-and-white pokemon. Serena eyed the vaguely familiar pokemon curiously; the basic shape looked familiar, as did the colouring, but she couldn't identify it. Just like the dark-furred wolf he'd called Kuraishi. Noticing her gaze, the man glanced at his pokemon and smiled.

"That's Ayashii. She's a gardevoir, evolved from ralts and kirlia. She's a psychic-type, so she'll be able to teleport us back to town easily. That, and I do _not_ want another ride on those ryhorn. Don't know how those racers can walk afterwards." Serena was torn between smiling about how she'd been able to somewhat recognize the third evolution of ralts, or frowning at the man's comment on the ryhorn. She decided to compromise.

"My mother is a ryhorn racer." She informed him scoldingly, even as she smiled and joined the little group around Ayashii. The young man, he could only be a year or two older than Serena now that she was looking, simply nodded, shifting his gaze to his pokemon, who seemed to take that as a hint. Moments later, the cave was empty.

* * *

**"Once I rose above the noise and confusion~ Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion~ I was soaring ever higher~ But I flew too high~" **

**...wanders off singing slightly off-key...**


	5. I've Met the Blessed and the Damned

Chapter 5: I've Met the Blessed and the Damned

"_And I've met some bug-eyed Joes; I've met the blessed, I've met the damned." ~ Love Don't Roam, Neil Hannon  
_

* * *

**_"When fate throws a dagger at you, there are two ways to catch it;_**

**_By the blade, or by the hilt."_**

**_~ Chinese Proverb_**

* * *

**AN: Hey there! I was tempted to put this chapter up yesterday, so I could be like, APRIL FOOLS, HERE'S YOUR CHAPTER! But then I never got around to it, so I'm posting today instead. I guess I don't really have much to say. This chapter was brought to you by the song Out of My Hands, performed by the Dave Matthews Band. **

* * *

Serena sighed as she finally stepped under the archway at the entrance of Genosage Town. After she and the strange blue-haired man, who'd introduced himself as Darius, had returned the wayward professor to his colleagues, they'd both started heading north. That had led to a few discoveries on Serena's part, both fascinating and terrifying.

"_So you work with the police, but right now you're on vacation?" Serena asked, frowning at Darius. "Then why were you looking for Team Flare?" In response, Darius simply shrugged. _

"_Call me a workaholic. That, and the very fact that Team Flare is an organized group is more than a little unsettling. Bad things happen when groups like them form." _

"_Bad things like what?" Serena asked, watching as a Wailmer broke the surface of the ocean far below the rocky cliff they walked along. It took her a few seconds to realize that not only had Darius not answered, he'd also stopped walking as well. A glance back showed the blonde that the young man was staring at something further up the cliff. Warily, Serena followed his gaze. _

"_It's an Absol." Serena muttered with a frown. "What's the problem?" _

_Darius shook his head. "Their natural habitat in this region is much further up the cliffs. They also usually stay away from people. And yet this is the second time I've seen one today." Serena glanced back at him as she heard him shuffling through his bag, pulling out an odd red device and flipping the cover off. "'It senses coming disasters and appears before people only to warn them of impending danger.'" He spoke in the tone of someone reading off text, and Serena frowned at the device. _

"_What is that?" She asked. Darius looked up and offered her a half-smile. _

"_A Hoenn version Pokedex. Got tired of getting used to different formats for every region so I asked Professor Rowan to just stick to updating this one." His blue eyes shifted back to the Absol before Serena could make a comment however, and the girl couldn't help but shiver as she looked at the oddly beautiful portent of doom. _

"_So something terrible is going to happen because Absol is here?" She demanded incredulously. Darius snorted. _

"_Hardly. It's not that Absol draws in the disaster, it's that the disaster draws in Absol. This is a warning. Something terrible is going to happen, and probably within the next couple of weeks. Possibly months if we're lucky." The boy shrugged as the Absol watched them for a few seconds more before disappearing over the ridge. _

"_Now I _know_ the apocalypse is coming. Joy." Darius grumbled, stuffing the Pokedex back into his bag._

* * *

After that, Serena had pestered Darius over his Pokedex all the way to Cyllage City, trying to divert her mind from what the Pokedex had told them. They'd parted after that; Serena stopping to challenge Grant, the local gym leader, while Darius hopped on the back of his Altaria, which he'd called Ryuushi, and flew off to who-knew-where. Serena was still shaken up though, especially after Darius had told her what happened the _last _time he'd seen an Absol in the wild. Namely, the disasters in Hoenn three years ago. And to know that something of that scale could very well be brewing in her very own homeland of Kalos terrified the young trainer.

But for now, there was nothing she could do, save keep a close eye on Team Flare. Speaking of…

Serena broke into a run as she spotted a familiar red suit disappearing around the corner of a house. Rounding said corner, she spotted the member of Team Flare running several yards ahead of her. He also had longer legs than Serena, and the gap between the two was widening. At least, it was until the other teenager came out of seemingly nowhere and tackled the suited man to the ground.

"Stop running around!" The dark-skinned teen growled as he quite effectively pinned the squirming grunt to the dirt. A second later and Serena was beside them, grabbing the grunt's flailing feet so he'd stop kicking the teen balanced on his back.

"Thanks for that." She said breathlessly to her fellow teenager. The boy shrugged as best as he was able, still pinching the man's wrists behind his back.

"Thanks for distracting him. I've been chasing him and his cohorts around this town for almost an hour; I was almost ready to tell Thanau to just set the guy's pants on fire and see how fast he ran after that." As he said this he jerked his head towards a charmeleon which was standing off to the side, obviously guarding against either the man's escape or the arrival of enemy backup. Beside the charmeleon was a pokemon that Serena recognized as froakie. The little frog was staring at something behind them however, reaching up and nudging Thanau to catch the fire-type's attention. Once both pokemon were staring behind the teens, Serena twisted around to see what was agitating the other teen's pokemon.

"What are you looking at?" Said teen asked, twisting around with slightly more difficultly considering his position holding down the Flare grunt.

"It's an Absol." Serena muttered, watching the gleaming white fur stalking slowly towards their odd pile of limbs.

"You sound like that scares you." He commented. Serena debated hitting him, but froze as the pokemon stopped before them, ducking its head down to nibble at the other teen's black cap. "Cut that out!" He snapped, but the Absol just bit the brim of the hat and lifted it off the teen's honey-blonde hair, hopping back a few steps with a mischievous gleam in its red eyes.

"Absol is able to sense disasters before they happen." Serena recalled out loud, causing the teen to freeze. "I saw another one on the way up here. Unless it was actually the same one. I wonder if you're going to be involved with whatever disaster is about to happen?"

"…" Serena blinked at the other teen's silence, and then went over her last sentence again in her head.

"Sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like that! I just meant-"

"I think I got what you meant." He cut in quickly, shifting his grip on their captive's wrists so he could finally sit up. "Now before anything else, I don't suppose you could call the cops in to deal with this guy?"

* * *

Archangel frowned at the pokemon which was still holding his hat hostage. He'd checked the pokedex's entry while the girl, who'd introduced herself as Serena, spoke to the cops. Just as she'd said, the pokemon only appeared just before a disaster. Apparently the scythe-like horn on its head allowed it to sense the imbalances or something. Either way, the so-called disaster pokemon was still hanging around, holding Archangel's cap hostage.

"Should I just accept that you're sticking around?" The teen asked the pokemon dryly. In response, his hat was tossed into his lap, the lithe form trotting several steps closer before the absol lay on the ground, propping her chin on outstretched forelegs. Archangel sighed and tugged his cap back over his messy hair before promptly making a point of not looking at the white-furred hat-stealer.

Cautiously, Ark glanced around the little clearing he was in, surrounded by boulders, before pulling out the pure red pokeball out of his pocket and giving Amersu a _look._ He wasn't sure why Amersu was giggling again, but at least the little menace was making eye contact. She didn't seem all that concerned at the moment, despite the absol's appearance, so he tucked her Pokeball back into his pocket. A minute later, Serena exited the PokeCenter and joined him in the clearing.

"So why did you sound so afraid earlier, when Absol first appeared?" Ark asked almost immediately. Serena shook her head.

"I saw an absol yesterday when I was still south of Cyllage City." She explained as she perched on one of the boulders. "This guy I was with told me the last time he saw one in the wild was just before two legendary pokemon with a grudge went at each other and almost destroyed the region they were in."

"So I'm going to destroy the region, am I?" Ark said half-teasingly, trying to ignore the ice that stabbed through his heart at the words that struck just a little too close. Serena shook her head.

"Doubt it. That guy said he'd run into an Absol earlier that morning and said the thing was practically eating his hair; though it could have just liked the taste of his hair-dye." She laughed.

"Hair dye?" Ark asked, suddenly fighting the urge to frown. Surely it couldn't be?

"Most impressive shade of blue hair I've ever seen." Serena said. "At first I thought he was like a colorblind Flare grunt or something. Then he told me he was actually an agent with the International Police. On vacation though."

"So he _is_ a cop." Ark grumbled under his breath.

"You've met him?" Serena asked in surprise. Archangel winced at having given that away, but nodded anyway.

"I kinda stumbled onto the case by accident." Archangel said, carefully wording his explanation. _Not completely a lie. _"I was talking with someone I suspected of being a high-ranking member," _known boss, but no-one should know that yet, _"and he just kinda hopped into the conversation. Neither of us were getting good vibes off the guy, but before I could question him further he disappeared. Though, I think I passed his commanding officer in Luminose; the one who's actually on the case."

"What, so you're a cop too?" Serena asked, raising one eyebrow in disbelief. "Pretty young recruit aren't you?"

"I was supposed to be working my first case, just dealing with fallout from an event, but something happened and I found myself in a hedge maze just south of Luminose." Again, not a _total_ lie. The girl didn't need the details of just _which_ event he was supposed to be cleaning up after. Serena frowned at his mention of the hedge maze however, leaning forward and staring at Ark's face.

"That was several weeks ago, wasn't it?" She practically demanded. "I think I remember you; my friend Shauna was talking to you, and you seemed really confused." Archangel frowned, casting his memory back. Finally, he blinked in comprehension.

"I do remember that! I think you thought I was crazy."

"I did think you were crazy." Serena informed him flatly, despite the fact that she was smiling. "Small world huh?"

"Small world indeed." Archangel agreed. The two were silent for a few minutes before Archangel leaned forward, clasping his hands together and propping his chin atop the interwoven fingers, his eyes on Serena.

"I don't suppose that guy told you were he was going?"

* * *

**AN: So yeah! Here's another chapter. This one is rather short, I'll admit. I don't know if you guys think it's short, but not including these notes, the chapter is about 18 hundred words. Anything under a 2K word count just feels short to me, but I honestly can't bring myself to break the chapters anywhere else. Please leave more reviews; I have leftover garlic bread and brownies from feeding my classmates yesterday! I can digitize them and send them to reviewers! Please and thank you!**


	6. Two Peas in a Pod

Chapter 6: Two Peas in a Pod

* * *

**_"When fate throws a dagger at you, there are two ways to catch it;_**

**_By the blade, or by the hilt."_**

**_~ Chinese Proverb_**

* * *

**AN: Muwahaha! Darius and Archangel finally meet! Uh, I'll have more to say at the bottom. Let's see, Mac'N'Cheese with Garlic spices for whoever recognizes my not-so-subtle reference! Mmm, garlic mac'n'cheese... **

* * *

Darius smiled as he arched his back, taking care to keep his balance. It wouldn't due to fall off his admittedly precarious perch because he'd leaned forward too much. It was a long drop to the beach below, after all. He was a bit disappointed to find that the tower was currently empty, but the view was definitely making up for it. And he was perfectly content to wait until the gym leader returned. The concept of Mega Evolution was fascinating, even if it didn't have anything to do with Team Flare. He supposed this was something else someone on vacation would do.

The vacationing agent momentarily thanked his ability to sense energy, otherwise he probably really _would _have fallen off the tower when Korrina flung the heavy wooden doors open with enough force to slam them against the walls.

"Most people start at the bottom of the tower and work their way up." The blonde on wheels snarked as she skated over to the railing where Darius had perched, two lucario following after her. Darius shrugged and waved a hand absently through the open air.

"View's better up here." Darius informed her.

"If you fall, I'm not going to even try to catch you." Korrina informed him, grey eyes warily darting between Darius's admittedly precarious perch and the six-story drop below. He shrugged and reached into his coat pocket, withdrawing his wallet and flipping it open so Korrina could see the badge inside.

"As a civilian I'd like to know how Mega Evolution works, but as a cop, I want to know if any odd men in red suits have been asking about it either." He informed the gym leader while she examined his proof of identity. Why did everyone always seem so surprised when they found out he was a cop? It was almost insulting. _Almost._

"What's this about men in red suits?" Korrina asked warily as she handed Darius back his wallet.

"If they haven't already started digging into Mega Evolution, there's a solid chance they're not going to try anything with it." Darius said, partially for the gym leader's benefit and partially for his own. "They're called Team Flare; the local cops can only positively trace petty crimes back to them, but I can recognize a dangerous situation when I see one. There's way too many of them running around, and they're quite spread out from what I've been able to see of the area, which also bodes ill." The agent shrugged. "Organized crime syndicates are bad enough; organized crime syndicates having access to something like Mega Evolution would be a nightmare."

"Except that anyone who wants the secret of Mega Evolution has to pass tests from both myself and Gurkinn." Korrina growled, affront spiking in her energy. "Unless you think we'd be blind enough to hand the secret over to a mindless group of criminals." Darius shook his head however, raising a hand to ward off her trails of annoyance.

"I'm just saying, if I were in the position of one of their commanders, I'd either come in myself and conceal my connection to the team, or I'd send in one of my better agents as a spy to gain your approval, and get access to the secret, and then have that agent bring it back to me. Then, depending on the difficulty of the method, I'd either teach all the grunts how to harness it, or just the upper ranks, and leave the grunts in the blind so we have the element of surprise." And speaking of the element of surprise…

"Like I said, that's what I would do, _if_ I were part of Team Flare." Darius said, suppressing the urge to snicker at the way Korrina's mouth hung slightly open. One of the lucario growled and poked at Darius's swirl of energy, and the agent smirked at the aura pokemon as he poked it right back.

Korrina was snapped out of her daze when the lucario to her left yipped in surprise and the one to her right shot darting glances between the cop on the railing and its brother. The gym leader looked between officer and pokemon, watching as they engaged in a rather intense staring contest. At least until Lucario dropped into an offensive crouch, beckoning the cop with one paw.

"What are you two doing?" Korrina demanded, half of partner and half of the young man.

"That's a good question." Darius muttered distractedly as he finally shifted around, sliding off the railing so he was simply leaning on it.

Cautiously, he reached his energy out, wincing as Lucario bent his own aura into a sharp whip and flicked the hesitant cop. That actually kinda stung.

/Of course it did hatchling, Lucario is known for fighting with aura afterall./ Rayquaza chided from Darius's hindbrain. /Consider this a good learning experience./

Off to the side, Korrina and the second lucario were watching the pair warily, but neither Darius nor Lucario paid them any heed. Darius could tell Lucario was just toying with him, flicking sharp points of energy, of _aura_, at Darius. Testing the strange human who bent energy in the same way as the aura pokemon. The cop, for his own part, was just trying to figure out how to go from _sensing _to _shifting _outside the plane of energy he'd been trapped in when dealing with Kyogre and Groudon. He watched Lucario's energy pulse and twist and flare as the pokemon struck out again and again, both impromptu combatants trying to figure out how to handle their strange new sparring partner.

* * *

Archangel sighed as he trudged up the spiraling slope that ran around the inside of the Tower of Mastery. He was almost to the top, sure, but he was also almost out of breath. Of course, after meeting Serena that morning, being told by her that his blue-haired target was heading to Shalour City, and then promptly running almost the entire way from Genosage to Shalour, Archangel was _tired_. So when he finally reached the top, he wasn't too surprised by the two giant wooden doors hanging open at the end of the spiraling path. He was, however, somewhat surprised by the scene he spotted beyond the doors.

The local gym leader, Korrina, stood off to the side next to a lucario, both with crossed arms as they watched the other two occupants of the deck. Archangel's target, Titan, was leaning against the railing directly in front of him, and his arms were similarly crossed, through it looked more like a defensive position than the bored stance of the others. He seemed to be frowning, but his eyes did not waver from the other Lucario. The second pokemon in question rested easily in what was obviously an offensive stance, feet spread and tail out for balance, one paw aimed out towards the blue-haired cop and one drawn back like a coiled spring. The pokemon's red eyes were narrowed and focused entirely on Titan. Archangel could practically feel the tension in the air, as though he could cut through it if only he had a knife. The Lucario beside Korrina was the first to notice Archangel's arrival, and the gym leader glanced over when the pokemon nudged her side.

"I don't suppose you're here to have a staring and twitching contest too?" She asked sarcastically, beckoning Ark to step out of the doorway.

"What are they doing?" He asked, watching as Titan winced slightly, his eyes remaining unblinking. It was somewhat creepy.

"Hell if I know." Korrina said with a deft shrug. "One minute the guy's warning me about keeping an eye out for Team Flare, and the next he and Lucario are trying to stare each other into oblivion." Archangel frowned, but nodded at the apt description of the two's stares.

Abruptly however, Titan's eyes darted over, finally registering the fact that their audience had gained a member. Not even a second later, his whole body flinched and he glared dully at Lucario, who had risen from his offensive stance and seemed to all the world to be _smirking_.

"That last one _did not count_." The blue-haired officer growled out, leaning away from the railing and pressing the heel of his palm to his temple.

"What were you doing?" Korrina demanded before Ark could even open his mouth. Titan shrugged tiredly.

"Obviously something unintelligent that will probably have Looker down my throat if he finds out." His eyes then shifted to take in the dark-skinned teen standing beside her. Frowning, he cocked his head to the side in a distinctly bird-like fashion. "You're not afraid of me anymore. Any particular reason?"

Archangel blinked in surprise, not having expected the older cop to pick up on that so quickly. "I thought you might have been with Team Flare before." He admitted with a shrug.

"So you were wary of me because you thought I was a member of Team Flare?" Titan asked curiously, tilting his head to the other side and smirking dangerously. "What does that make Lysandre?"

_Oh crap. _"What about Lysandre?"

"I made you nervous; he made you _panicked_." Titan informed him with a shrug. "To a regular bystander, your conversation would have been perfectly normal. But I'm not a regular bystander; I know you were doing everything you could to either avoid him, or keep yourself from throwing that coffee pot at him and bolting."

"You sound pretty sure of yourself on that." Archangel replied as casually as he could. Inside though, he was gritting his teeth. Titan might have been a cop, but that still didn't mean Archangel could trust him with the truth of the situation. As he debated with himself, Titan's smirk somehow managed to get even wider as he hopped lightly so he was perched on the railing, leaning forward and propping his feet on the balusters so he could rest his elbows on his raised knees.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot Ark." He said with that same unnerving smile. "This isn't technically my case, but it is Looker's, and he's my superior officer, giving me at least a little wiggle room here. You aren't on the case, but you obviously know something I don't. So let's try this whole introduction thing again, shall we?

"Hello there, I am Special Agent Darius Stellon, codename Titan. And you are?"

Archangel bit his lip. Titan, Darius, had already seen his face, and with 'Ark' as a hint, it wouldn't take long for him to connect it to 'Archangel', and then to his own name. But technically, he wasn't even in the Kalos region. But on that note, if he gave the other agent _reason _to research him, things could get very bad, _very_ fast. But if he at least pretended to be up front with him, then there would be no reason for him to dig.

"Michael." The younger agent finally replied. "Michael Briggs, codename Archangel."

* * *

**AN: Okay, just a little thing (for those who _do_ recognize the reference). As I might have mentioned, I write this story in tandem with my playthrough of Pokemon Y (I have X, but I already beat it :P). So when I started the game, I picked a male character with darker skin ('cause it was something different and I wanted to wear flannels instead of skirts~). I had no thoughts of story at the time, and since I'd been marathoning a certain show at the time, I named my protagonist Archangel. It only occured to me when I was writing the last chapter that Archangel didn't have a proper name in this story. But because of the inspiration behind his naming, I could only come up with Michael Briggs :) So, for the record; my Michael 'Archangel' Briggs looks _nothing_ like Michael 'Archangel' Coldsmith-Briggs from the show :) Actually, come to think of it, Darius's character model for this story is more along the lines of Coldsmith-Briggs. Mmm, now I want to listen to electronic soundtracks from the 80's ;)**

**And if anyone reviews with the name of the show Archangel comes from... I'LL UPDATE IMMEDIATELY! Or at least ASAP~ Heh, blame the ADD, it means little things like "hey, you watch [insert show name here] too?" make me unbelieveably happy! ...Now pardon me while I go trawling through Hulu for my daily dose of white and black helicopters and white-clad spies ;)**


	7. The Story You'll Never Tell

Chapter 7: The Story You'll Never Tell

* * *

**_"When fate throws a dagger at you, there are two ways to catch it;_**

**_By the blade, or by the hilt."_**

**_~ Chinese Proverb_**

* * *

**AN: Hey there! So, I've been writing a lot. Yay. Here's another chapter for you before I go home and pass out. Yay coffee overload. Just to let you readers know, I'm posting this alongside a short fic which is a sort of crack-fic sequel/prequel _thing_ that goes along with the Christmas Special I posted a while back. If you're looking for something short and amusing, I'd suggest checking it out. Or not, you know, whatever. Anyway, uh... Here's a chapter for you.**

**Warning, I'm posting this without my standard pre-posting check ('cause I'm not conscious enough) so I'll apologize if there's any odd grammar bugs.**

* * *

Michael sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. It was too early in the morning to be getting headaches. Cysgod was curled up on a rather flat boulder, head resting on crossed forelegs and red eyes closed as she dozed in the early morning sunlight. Thanau had pressed himself against the absol's white-furred flank, his eyes also closed as he too dozed, his flame-tipped tail twitching and leaving little scorch trails along the edge of the boulder. Broga had elected to sprawl himself out in Michael's lap rather than fight with Thanau for rock-space. A little bubble had formed on the froakie's nose, growing and shrinking as the little frog breathed in his sleep. Michael was the only one awake.

As a young inexperienced cop, Michael was relieved to have someone else on the case. Someone he could bring information to, and trust to see things that he missed. Someone else who could be in charge. As the agent Archangel however, he was suspicious and wary. He didn't know anything about the stranger who went by Titan, and even though he was also an agent, that made him an unknown variable. Amersu's reaction to the mention of Titan's codename was somewhat reassuring, but Archangel didn't fully trust the sprite that had gotten him into his situation in the first place either.

Michael blinked and brought his mind back to his surroundings as Cysgod abruptly opened her eyes, lifting her head and staring into the trees. Her movement woke Thanau, who glanced up at her and then to Michael before staring into the same patch of trees as the absol. A few seconds later, Agent Titan ghosted out of the trees, moving almost silently over the leaf litter. He was shortly followed by a massive Mightyena and a smiling Gardevoir, the latter of the two nodding politely to Michael as she stepped into the small clearing. Titan himself paused, ice-blue eyes meeting with Cysgod's red gaze as the agent and the absol stared at each other.

"Huh." Titan muttered, shaking his head and shifting his gaze to Michael. He didn't move however, simply staring at the younger agent. Finally, Michael had had enough of squirming under the searching gaze.

"What?" He half-demanded, staring back at the agent in challenge. One corner of Titan's mouth twitched up in a partial smile as he shrugged and shoved his hands into the pockets of his black jeans.

"I'm just wondering if this is going to be a meeting between Titan and Archangel, or between Darius and Michael."

Michael blinked in surprise at the question, thrown off by the implication. The older agent was giving him a choice. They could converse as two unfamiliar agents working the same case, or they could speak as two concerned people with information on a common threat.

"Not sure I'm ready to meet anyone as Agent Archangel yet." Michael admitted with a sigh as he leaned back against his tree. Titan nodded and his half-smile grew and softened as his stance settled into something more casual.

"This is Kuraishi and Ayashii." Darius introduced, indicating the Mightyena and the Gardevoir in turn. "My third Pokémon, Ryuushi, is up in the sky; the trees were too close together for her wingspan to get through comfortably."

"These are Thanau, Broga, and Cysgod." Michael introduced, indicating the charmeleon, froakie, and absol. Darius nodded to each Pokémon, but his eyes lingered on Cysgod, his smile slipping into a partial frown again.

"Did you catch her just recently?" He asked, cocking his head to the side in curiosity. Michael frowned warily at the odd question, but he answered anyway.

"Just yesterday actually. Stole my hat and started following me around."

"You had three Pokémon with you when Lysandre was interrogating you." He commented, bringing his gaze back to the teen. Michael's heart skipped a beat and promptly lodged itself into his throat. Should he tell the other agent? Tell him when Michael hadn't even been able to admit to himself what had really happened? It was ludicrous, and even after several weeks, Michael expected to wake up any minute from the decidedly strange dream. How could he expect someone else to believe the truth when he didn't believe it himself?

While Michael debated with himself, Darius sighed and sat himself against another tree facing the younger man.

"I've never told anyone this directly, not even Looker, but I see things others can't." Darius said, breaking Michael's internal turmoil. "In the coffee shop, your face was completely composed, but I could see underneath that. It's how I could tell you were afraid of Lysandre. And how you weren't afraid of me until I introduced myself as Titan. It's how I could recognize that Lysandre _is _someone to be cautious around, even if I have no idea why. And it's how I can see that you're afraid of explaining to me that fourth Pokémon, even though you're not afraid of the Pokémon itself." Darius shrugged. "As long as it's not a threat to any civilians, I'm fine with not knowing. Everyone has secrets and stories they'll never tell anyone else."

Once Darius fell silent, Michael shivered. Slowly, he reached down to his belt and retrieved Amersu's Pokeball. He stared through the red dome at the little sprite within, frowning. Finally, he shook his head and returned the ball to his belt.

"I'm pretty sure she's trying to help." Michael admitted hesitantly. "And I should tell you what happened; without that story most of the information I have would be highly questionable, but I can't even admit it to myself right now. Maybe in a few more weeks, or maybe a few months. Maybe even years."

"And maybe never." Darius concluded knowingly, nodding. Seeing that, Michael let out a heavy sigh. He took a few seconds to acknowledge that he wasn't going to have to explain what Amersu had done to the other agent before he focused his mind once more. Darius allowed him that time before asking his next question.

"So just who is Lysandre?" The blue-haired agent asked. Michael took a second to think out how to explain Lysandre, and convince the other agent that the accusation he was about to make really was the truth.

"You said you could recognize that he was someone to be cautious around?" Michael asked cautiously. He could recognize that Darius's reading of people was Michael's Amersu; the story he'd probably never tell anyone, but he needed at least something to work with. Darius was silent for a few seconds.

"If I had to describe him in one word, I'd say predatory." He said slowly, folding his hands in his lap and frowning in recollection. "I've gotten those kind of vibes from some other businesspeople, who are just a bit too exuberant about making a sale, but he wasn't trying to sell us anything. That sense was out of place in that conversation. And as soon as he realized neither of us were biting, we became nuisances in his mind." Michael nodded, fitting Darius's observations of the confrontation into what he knew about Lysandre.

"This is going to sound far-fetched, and I'm afraid I can't explain how I know, but Lysandre has a plan." He paused, thinking about how to explain. "I don't know why, but he seems to despise the idea of time passing." He shook his head. "That's not quite right. Its growing old that he despises, I think. He was trying to recruit us to his cause, back in the coffee shop."

Darius seemed to think about that, combining what he'd picked up in the coffee shop with what Michael had said. Slowly, he began to frown. Then abruptly, he swore. Loudly.

"Team Flare." Darius stated, staring at Michael, who nodded quietly. "He's their leader." Michael blinked at how quickly Darius had made the jump, but nodded anyway. Darius didn't stop however, his racing thoughts practically written across his face. "Do you know how he planned to achieve that?"

"I didn't have much time to study the file before…" Michael took a deep breath, still unable to speak, and pressed on. "There's some kind ancient machine buried in Genosage down. I know one of Team Flare's bases is in that town too, but I don't remember where the entrance was. I know the machine is in the centre of the base though. The town was practically destroyed when the machine activated. The machine was supposed to harness the power of the two legendary Pokémon, Xerneas and Yevtal. I'm not sure how it was supposed to work, but…" He paused again, taking a deep breath as his memories of smoke and death and decay rose up to choke him.

* * *

Darius was silent as he allowed Michael to simply breathe. He recognized the throbbing chill coming off the teen as the same hurt he'd felt coming off people after the disaster in Hoenn. People who had seen others wounded and even killed by the violent disaster. The 21-year-old hadn't missed the odd tenses his junior had used when speaking of Lysandre's plan either. He'd dealt with the rulers of time, space, and distortion; add that to Michael's sure knowledge of what Lysandre's plan was, and it wasn't a far jump to figure out just what trauma the teen had experienced. No wonder he couldn't bring himself to tell Darius what had happened. Or explain how he'd come across his knowledge. While Michael was still calming down, Darius's communicator beeped, startling both agents and their assorted Pokémon. With a quick motion Darius plucked the device from his pocket and flipped it open.

"Hey there boss." He greeted in a chipper voice.

"I told you to take vacation Stellon." Looker growled without preamble. "It's not _optional_."

"I _am_ on vacation sir." Darius said with a smirk at Michael. "In fact, I'm sitting in a beautiful woodland clearing enjoying the fresh morning air, away from all potential lunatic criminals, and in a while, I'm going to go sip coffee, probably in front of a fireplace, at a café. And then after that, I think I'll go enjoy a visit to the harbour over in Coumarine. Maybe visit a museum or two." In front of him, he could see Michael gaping like a fish. The volume on the communicator plus Looker's natural volume meant it was highly likely that the younger agent could hear both sides of the conversation. Looker, for his part, was surprisingly silent for a few seconds.

"I know you Stellon." Looker finally growled. "I don't know about fresh air and coffee and oceans, but visiting a museum sounds like Stellon-talk for research. My supervisors will have my ass if they know you're running around on this case when you're on medical leave."

"I thought I was on mandatory vacation." Darius teased.

"You got a concussion and several fractured bones Stellon. You did _not_ go to a hospital like you should have, you hid in a bar in a completely different region so I couldn't lecture you. Its medical leave, Stellon, and that means the bosses will have _my_ hide if they know you're running around before you've been cleared!" And with that, Looker hung up, leaving Darius with a quietly humming communicator and an open-mouthed teenager.

"Medical leave?" The teen practically squeaked. Darius shrugged and tucked the device back into his bag.

"I have a tendency to attract trouble. And bounce off hard things. I made a miscalculation, and it was just a concussion. Looker was exaggerating. Sort of." Michael blinked and shook his head.

"You're crazy. Your boss sounded pretty pissed." Darius just shrugged, rising to his feet.

"Looker knows I don't stop working. I'm pretty sure he's given up trying to convince me to do otherwise. It's all word-games now." Darius snickered. "We use half-truths so we never lie. I told him I was enjoying the air and I'll have coffee later. I'm talking to you now, and later on I'm going to get coffee for breakfast. Then I'm going to make like a vacationer and enjoy the harbour in Coumarine for a while, and after that I'll head to Luminose and visit the museums. If there's legendary Pokémon involved, there's legends to be studied. And besides, Looker only mentioned the supervisors hearing about this. Which means he's not going to tell them. He's warning me that he's heard stuff, and I'd better not stick out any further or they'll know too. And _then_ he'd be in trouble."

"That is convoluted and confusing." Michael informed the blue-haired young man, also rising to his feet and following Darius out of the clearing. Darius laughed and shrugged.

"Welcome to my life. Now come on, it's too early to work without coffee, and I want to see the docks."

* * *

"Darius again sir?" Johnny asked, watching his boss furiously pressing the end call button on his communicator.

"If no one from Team Flare manages it first, I'm going to kill that kid." Looker growled, still pressing the button. The call had disconnected, but he was still frustrated. Giving up, he slammed it down on his desk, grinning darkly at the sound it made. Noticing his subordinate's badly hidden smirk, Looker growled.

"Hanging up on people isn't nearly as satisfying as it used to be."

* * *

**AN: Like I said, not conscious enough. Review please? Tell me if I'm being confusing, or if you have any ideas. And maybe go check out my other story while you're at it. Title is "In the Muse Department". Heh :)**


	8. Professors And Assistants

Chapter 8: Professors and Assistants

* * *

**_"When fate throws a dagger at you, there are two ways to catch it;_**

**_By the blade, or by the hilt."_**

**_~ Chinese Proverb_**

* * *

**AN: So I wanna apologize for the delay; I meant to have this up on Monday. But I had forgotten that my teachers had voted to cancel all our regular classes and replace them with 8-3 lab class. (Admittedly we really did need to get the decking on that roof, but still). Anyway, that, combined with the nerve-wracking approach of finals, equaled chapter delay. And I'll be up front with you right now, there's a chance I won't be posting again until after finals are done, which is about two weeks away. As an apology, I'll be posting chapter 9 alongside this one. **

* * *

After Looker's call, Darius and Michael split up. The younger of the pair set out to ask various townsfolk about the legends of the Pokémon known as Yevtal and Xerneas. Darius however waited until he was on Ryuushi's back on his way to Coumarine before he reactivated his communicator.

"You're lucky Looker's not in the office." Johnny said by way of greeting. "You know I can't give you anything relating to the case, right?"

"I know Johnny, I know." Darius replied, grinning. "This is something else. Maybe."

"Knowing you, it probably isn't. What do you need?"

"What can you tell me about an agent codenamed Archangel?" Darius paused. "He's probably a new recruit, works with an Agent Watcher and Agent Tower." Darius could hear the faint clicking of a keyboard as Johnny ran his search.

"You're right on that; kid hasn't even had a case yet. Name Michael Briggs, 19 years old, hails from Unova. Slated to be assigned to Agents Watcher and Tower for field training. Paperwork hasn't even finalized though, how'd you know?"

"Does the file say where he is?" Darius asked, avoiding Johnny's question. He was almost positive his earlier conclusion was correct, but he had to be sure. A few more clicks were his immediate response.

"Still in the training academy. Why, you think he isn't anymore?"

"No, I'm sure the data's right. I just needed to make sure." Johnny was silent for a moment. When he spoke, it wasn't in his usual teasing tone.

"Darius, I know you play things close to your chest, but if this is something that might threaten another agent-"

"He should be fine." Darius cut in before Johnny could continue. "I'm almost positive it happened a few weeks ago, so if he didn't react then, then he'll be okay. I just need you to warn me if he comes to Kalos."

"Alright buddy." Johnny finally sighed after a minute of silence over the line. "I'll keep tabs on the kid. But in return, you don't hide things, okay? Even if Looker's being snappy, you report in." He barked out a sharp laugh. "Arceus knows, you only sound that serious when things are about to blow up in our faces."

"They very well might." Darius sighed, spotting Coumarine City on the horizon. "I may have a lead on their leader _and_ their plans. And before you ask, I can't send him to you and Looker. Believe me though when I tell you that Team Flare is much more dangerous than we've been assuming." No-one had that kind of chill coming off their spirit without witnessing a terrible tragedy. "I'm almost to Coumarine; I'll report in when I have more data." And with that he hung up.

* * *

Back in the temporary office in Lumiose, Johnny stared at the buzzing communicator.

"I wonder if he knows that those guys are in Coumarine too." Johnny mused, frowning before he shook his head and raised up a grin. "Oh well, he'll find out soon enough!"

"Who'll find out what?" Looker demanded, throwing the door open with a suspicious scowl at his grinning subordinate.

* * *

Michael sighed in relief as he finally spotted the edge of Coumarine City. It hadn't been nearly as long a distance as travelling from Genosage to Shalour, but it was still quite a haul. At least the delay hadn't been without its rewards, the teen mused as he looked down at the Pokeballs on his belt. Broga had evolved into a frogadier, and Michael suspected Thanau was close to evolution too. Cysgod had also proved to be a capable fighter as well, eager as she was to help out, even if she did always snatch Michael's hat after a battle.

Darius wasn't too hard to find. Michael recalled the other agent saying something about the docks before, so that was the first place he searched. Even then though, he was somewhat surprised to find his blue-haired fellow perched atop a small lighthouse at the end of one of the piers. A large Altaria had perched on the railing of one of the docked boats, and Michael assumed it to be Darius's third Pokémon, Ryuushi.

"What is with you and perching?" Michael asked, leaning on the lighthouse and staring out at the sparkling sea. Darius was out of his sight, but he could hear the other agent shifting slightly.

"Dunno. Just like perching. Maybe I was a flying-type in a past life?" The two young officers stared out at the ocean, watching it reflect the light of the sinking sun. After several minutes of that, Darius sighed and rose to his feet, standing on that precarious edge, perfectly at ease.

"I'll hang around here until tomorrow afternoon." Darius informed Michael, stretching his arms over his head. "After that I'll head to Luminose to check the museums for detail on the legends of the two Pokémon you mentioned. What are you going to do?"

Michael shrugged, part of his brain wondering how Darius had even gotten on top of the lighthouse, and how he planned to get down. "I'll probably head out tomorrow morning; if you're flying that should get us to Lumiose about the same time. You check museums, I'll see if Professor Sycamore knows anything."

"You know Professor Sycamore?" Darius asked in mild surprise. Michael shrugged, glancing up at him and then looking back down at the ocean.

"I was trying to catch a Pokémon down on Route 4, but I didn't have any Pokémon on hand except Amersu, and she wouldn't even make eye-contact, much less come out of the Pokeball. Sycamore showed up and somehow ended up giving me Thanau and Broga, along with a Pokedex." Michael pulled out the red device to show the other officer. "I thought it was suspicious, but he seemed to think it was all perfectly normal."

"From what I've heard from Professor Rowan, he's just like that. Always has been, apparently." Darius shrugged and tapped a finger against one of the Pokeballs on his belt. Ryuushi chirruped and took off, quickly rising up towards the clouds.

"I'm going to find something for dinner. See you in the hotel. Or in Lumiose." And with that, the teen vanished in a psychic flare of purple light. Michael just shook his head, turning away from the ocean and striding down the pier.

* * *

The next morning, Michael found himself blinking in bemusement as the strange purple-haired lady in white, who had introduced herself as Sine, dragged him by the arm through Coumarine City. He'd been just about to board the Monorail to get to the upper part of the city when he'd accidentally bumped shoulders with the strangely dressed woman. She'd introduced herself as Sine, and Michael had introduced himself as Ark. Most of the people he'd met in Kalos, excluding Darius, he'd introduced himself to as Ark, and he didn't want questions cropping up if he suddenly started using his own name again. But in this case, perhaps that would have been the better plan, seeing as once Sine heard his 'name' and seen the Pokeballs on his belt, she'd promptly began dragging him out of the station, all the way back to the hotel.

"I found him professor!" Sine shouted triumphantly as she threw open the door and dragged the thoroughly confused Archangel through. The first person he noticed was Professor Sycamore, seated at one of the small lounge tables with a large laptop occupying the surface before him. To his right was a blonde man who, like Sine, was wearing an almost blindingly white suit. On the professor's other side, a younger man with dark blue hair that looked almost black. He was staring down at a red device in his hands, fiddling with controls that were out of Archangel's view. Grey eyes only looked up when the slim raven-haired girl to his left elbowed him in the side, gesturing with her head towards the newcomers.

"This is wonderful!" Sycamore declared when he'd seen just who Sine had found. "Ark! I've been having such a hard time contacting you! I'm thinking we probably should have figured that out before, but that's all in the past now." He shrugged and grinned before glancing around at the people gathered around his table.

"Ah, let me introduce you to everyone." He said. "You've met Sine, obviously, and this gentleman beside me is Dexio. They're my research assistants. And these two are Lucas and Dawn; they're assistants to a fellow professor of mine who specializes in researching evolution. They're here helping me research Mega Evolution. Everyone, this is Ark; one of my Pokedex holders."

"I apologize for the confusion." Archangel replied, trying to calm himself. He'd had a moment of panic after seeing the professor, thinking the man had discovered something about Ark. Or possibly realized that he'd handed a powerful high-tech device and Pokémon to a complete stranger and decided to take them back.

"Its water under the bridge my dear boy!" Sycamore declared, flapping a hand in a shooing gesture. "Tell me, how are your Pokémon doing? May I see them?"

Archangel took one more deep breath to calm himself before Michael reached to his belt, removing three Pokeballs and releasing the Pokémon contained within.

"Ah, you've managed to evolve froakie I see!" Sycamore exclaimed in delight, rising from his chair and circling around the table to kneel down beside Broga.

"Your Absol's fur is beautiful." Dawn commented, following the professor and kneeling beside Cysgod to stroke the Absol's gleaming white flank.

"An acquaintance of mine cooked up a batch of something he called Poffins last night for his own Pokémon, and he ended up feeding my team as well. Said they were good for fur and skin." It had certainly been amusing to see Darius running about the hotel's kitchen, fleeing drooling Pokémon as he stirred the batter in an enormous bowl.

"Oh, it's been ages since I've had a Poffin!" Dawn exclaimed, sighing in bliss.

"People can eat them too?" Michael asked in surprise. He'd thought they were like Pokepuffs, tailored specifically for Pokémon consumption. It was Lucas who answered, still sitting behind the table.

"If you have the right recipe and the right chef, yeah."

"Your charmeleon looks like he's almost ready to evolve." Sycamore commented, having been paying no attention to their conversation. "So what have you been doing as a trainer? Are you challenging gyms? Filling the Pokedex? Making memories?" Sycamore grinned up at Michael from his spot on the floor, tilting his head in curiosity. Michael hesitated; he didn't know how to answer that. Or maybe he did.

"I'm actually trying to figure out what this group calling themselves Team Flare are up to." Archangel said, frowning slightly to imply confusion; as though he didn't have any idea what their ultimate agenda was.

"Oh Arceus he has the _look_." Lucas exclaimed, rolling his eyes and ignoring the glare Dawn shot at him. Archangel frowned, but he didn't bother to ask.

"It was good to see you again professor, but I need to meet someone in Lumiose this afternoon, and if I want to make it there on time, I'm going to have to leave town soon." Sycamore glanced up, looking slightly disappointed, but nodded anyway.

"Good luck." Dexio piped up, finally speaking. "Something's been up with the Power Plant lately; Lumiose isn't getting as much power as it used to, so things keep shutting down. It's been getting steadily worse, but they haven't had to do anything drastic like shutting down the city to deal with it yet."

Michael nodded, accepting the info before he turned away. It was getting late in the morning, and he'd have to hurry if he wanted to get to Lumiose with enough time to talk with the professor about the legendary Pokémon.

He paused in the doorway of the hotel, grabbing onto that thought. And then promptly brought his palm to his forehead. Turning around, he quickly strode back to where Professor Sycamore had settled down behind his computer once more.

"Professor, I was actually meaning to ask you; do you know anything about the legendary Pokémon here in Kalos?"

* * *

**AN: If you see any typos, feel free to point them out. Most chapters I write without any reference material (not even my game usually), so all spelling is from memory. I know that in the original draft, for some reason I wrote 'Luminose' every time instead of 'Lumiose', which I think is the proper spelling, so I'll apologize if I missed any. **


	9. Power

Chapter 9: Power

* * *

**_"When fate throws a dagger at you, there are two ways to catch it;_**

**_By the blade, or by the hilt."_**

**_~ Chinese Proverb_**

* * *

**AN: If you only got one alert, I'll tell you now that I posted this chapter at the same time as chapter 8, so you might want to go back and read that first. **

* * *

Darius grimaced as he stood literally leaning on the vicious winds. His feet were planted solidly on the dry cracked earth below him and he was leaned back at such an angle that, without the wind, he'd have already dropped to the ground. Around him, sand and grit and dead twigs flew through the air, carried on the winds. No wonder they called these the Luminose Badlands. It was also pretty warm, what with the sun beating down mercilessly and the ground absorbing the rays. Add that to the member of Team Flare Darius had spotted outside the entrance to one of the Power Plants, and that made for a very grumpy agent. He'd had his team out of their Pokeballs with him earlier, but Ryuushi's wings kept collecting all the grit in the air, and Kuraishi's dark fur was causing the canine to overheat fairly quickly.

The agent was currently debating his options. He could head directly to Luminose like he'd originally planned. He could also head to Luminose simply to wait out the windstorm and return later. The one member of Team Flare at the entrance of the Power Plant was quite obviously there as a guard, meaning there were others inside. And if Darius waited until the storm blew over, there was a chance that they could finish whatever they were doing and disappear.

That left him with what seemed the most logical solution. Beat the Flare grunt, take shelter inside the Power Plant, and defeat whatever other members of Team Flare were inside while he was at it. Content with this course of action, Darius shifted carefully, twisting around so he was facing the wind and beginning to walk towards where he'd seen the grunt. This was going to take a while.

* * *

"Wait!" The Flare grunt yelped, backpedalling as quickly as he could with the wind's interference. Titan smirked at the man as best he could with the grit flying into his face. It really had been too pathetically easy to take the man's Pokémon down. In fact, it was almost harder to restrain the amount of damage they did, so that the other Pokémon only fainted.

"I've lost my Power Plant Pass!" The Flare grunt continued, not noticing that the agent's mind had wandered. Titan said nothing, waiting for the man to elaborate, which he did surprisingly quickly. "I must have dropped it by that really big rock about nine feet that-a-way." The man said, his emotions an odd swirl of guilt and rebelliousness as he pointed at a large boulder off to Titan's right. "If some hypothetical person were to find it, and then hypothetically use it to get into the Power Plant, I'd be hypothetically in hot water!" And then he simply stood, his gloved hand still pointing at the boulder. Slowly, the former commander of Team Galactic smirked.

"That would put you in a lot of hypothetical trouble." He commented, gesturing for Ayashii to go check out the rock. The Gardevoir returned quickly, slipping the plastic card into Titan's hand. "If I were in that _hypothetical_ situation, I'd make myself scarce before my _hypothetical _boss realized what had happened, or the _hypothetical_ law enforcement arrived."

"You're letting me go?" The man yelped, the guilt and rebelliousness shifting into surprise and hope. "Uh, hypothetically?" He added quickly at Titan's raised eyebrow.

"_Hypothetically_, I can tell you're dissatisfied with how Team Flare is running, and you aren't just helping because you're afraid of me or the law." Titan shrugged. "Now you should hypothetically scram before I _hypothetically_ decide that this conversation has gotten too ridiculous." A flare of surprise, hope, and pride preceded the man running past Darius, his flight sped by the tailwind. The young man smiled and shook his head, thinking of all the Team Galactic agents that had followed him when he'd gone against his uncle. Shaking his head again to dispel the thoughts, Darius recalled his team once more and pressed forward, heading towards the small entry house.

* * *

Darius had just finished tying up the handful of grunts that had been guarding the power plant workers when he heard the distinct sound of roller skates echoing down the long corridor to the exit. He left one of the scientists to finish the last few knots while he exited the room to check the hallway. It wasn't very long before he spotted the black ball cap, red flannel over white t-shirt, and dark blue jeans of his fellow agent.

"You got here surprisingly quickly." Darius commented as way of greeting.

"Literally crashed into a Flare grunt in the gatehouse to the north." Michael grumbled. "He started babbling about how his fellow agents were at the Power Plant to the west, not the east, and that the door was unguarded and probably unlocked already. Said 'hypothetically' every other word, I swear." Darius couldn't help but snicker at the younger agent's confused energy and not-quite-scowl.

"Anyway, it's a good thing you're here; we can tag-team this now. You have any info on what they're doing here?"

Darius waited while Michael's energy flared in surprise and fear before settling once more into the usual wariness and calculation the teen had when he spoke of what he knew.

"The device in Genosage; they've probably got some kind of converter that will let them use the raw electricity to power it."

"Alright." Darius muttered, thinking. "We don't know how long they've been here, or how much energy they need. This machine is powerful though, probably at least the same power level as the Galactic Bomb, maybe stronger. So roughly the same or larger energy requirements. Size ratio between this power plant and the Valley Windworks, means more power generated in less time, probably higher output rate as well. The length of time Lumiose has been having power issues probably hints at how long they've been siphoning energy, which means they're probably almost done here. Which means we need to take them down now, before they can slip away."

Darius ignored Michael's confusion, grinning sharply as he slipped once more into the mind-set of Titan.

"Let's go hunt some grunts." He said, releasing his Pokémon and striding towards the heart of the power plant.

* * *

Michael couldn't help but feel somewhat nervous. He hadn't been able to hear all of what Darius had been muttering, but he'd heard the word 'bomb' at one point, and wondered just what the older agent was talking about. Either way, he was somewhat frightened at how easily they were progressing though the power plant. In most cases, Titan's Pokémon only had to land one hit before the various Croagunks and Golbats fell. Anyone that Darius missed, Archangel stepped forward to deal with. As such, they made quick work of all the grunts.

Before long, the pair of agents were climbing the stairs towards the main reactor. Before Ark could approach the two people standing by the reactor however, Titan put a hand on his shoulder, holding him back.

"Different uniforms generally imply different rank with organizations like these." Titan muttered, keeping his voice low to keep from alerting the pair to their presence early.

"I take the one on the left, you take the one on the right?" Ark suggested, watching the pair on the platform conversing too quietly for the pair of agents to hear.

"That's going to have to be the plan." Titan muttered as he climbed the last few stairs. At the same time, the woman in red gestured in their direction, and the bald man in the white suit spun around in surprise.

"How did you get in here?" The man demanded, releasing a Houndoom. Ark didn't reply however, releasing Broga in preparation for a battle. Beside him, Titan had also released Kuraishi to face off against the woman's own Mightyena.

"I am Aliana; one of Team Flare's scientists." The woman introduced, miming a curtsy. "Unfortunately for you, I intend to eliminate you."

"We'll see about that." Titan smirked, crossing his arms over his chest as though he hadn't a care in the world. Ark couldn't spare any more thought to his fellow though, barely bringing his attention to his own opponent in time to see the Houndoom spitting a spray of embers at Broga.

"Water Gun!" Ark commanded, and the frogadier spit out a small jet of water, easily snuffing out the tiny flames.

"If your flames won't work, use your fangs!" White-Suit commanded, flinging his arm out in a rather ridiculously overdramatic motion. The houndoom snarled, bounding forward towards Broga, who darted out of the way on Archangel's command.

"Use Water Gun again!" Archangel commanded, watching the distance between Houndoom and Broga carefully. The flames weren't too much of a problem, but the young agent didn't want to know what kind of damage their opponent's teeth could do. Broga dodged another lunge, striking the Houndoom with a narrow blast of water before being forced to dodge again. Both Pokémon were extremely fast, and when the little frog stumbled, Archangel almost missed it. But the effect was instantaneous; Houndoom immediately taking advantage of that loss of speed as he pounced and pinned the frogadier almost faster than Archangel could blink. Across their impromptu battlefield, the man in the white suit smirked.

"Now Houndoom, use Thunder Fang!" Sparks danced in the snarling muzzle seconds before Houndoom bit down on the back of Broga's neck, causing the water-type to squeal in pain. Before Archangel could even try to withdraw Broga from the fight however, a blur of black and grey fur came flying through the air, smacking into Houndoom's flank and knocking him off of Broga, who scrambled away from his attacker with a wince.

Archangel glanced over at Darius and Aliana; whose battle he'd been ignoring in favour of his own. The Mightyena that was still standing padded up next to Broga, sniffing the wounded frog gently before snarling at their collapsed attackers.

"It appears this battle is over." Titan said with a dangerous smirk. Aliana recalled her fainted Mightyena, the part of her face not hidden by the visor unreadable. Beside her, the unnamed Flare also recalled his Houndoom, glaring at the two young cops in front of him.

"Stupid brats." The man growled. Aliana giggled and shrugged.

"It is not of import." She said calmly. "We have diverted enough electricity for the project to proceed anyway." Archangel barely saw the tiny metal ball fall from her gloved fingertips before the flash bomb struck the ground, and he was forced to shield his eyes against the light. When he could see again however, the two were already gone, and Titan was striding over to Broga and Kuraishi, absently checking their injuries and applying basic medicines, which Archangel did as well after a few seconds of glancing around.

"Let's head out to Lumiose." Darius finally said after both Pokémon were fully healed. "There's nothing left here for us to do."

* * *

**AN: Please tell me I'm not the only one who was suspicious of the grunt who was 'guarding' the entrance! I mean, he tells you _exactly_ where he 'lost' his key! So I played with that. **

**Also! If anyone out there plays Zombies, Run!, I've posted a little drabble too! Yay zombies! **


End file.
